


A Sign of Good Things to Come

by leoba



Series: Finnreylo Murder AU [6]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Past Abuse, Rey is hiring for the garage, Trope Inversion, and Han looking for the job, and a rey and han bonding fic, job interview time, only this time it's rey doing the hiring, rose and rey are besties, this is a rey and ben bonding fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 06:13:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15768246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leoba/pseuds/leoba
Summary: Rey hires some help for the garage, and he's not at all what she's expecting. Ben is not thrilled.





	A Sign of Good Things to Come

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story in the Finnreylo Murder AU and makes reference to events that happen in [In the Clearing and What Happened After](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15606219) and [Things We Break and Things We Keep](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15723909), but the important thing to know is that in this AU Rey murdered Plutt after years of abuse, Ben murdered Snoke, and our three lovers have only recently started talking about their families, after being together for two months. There's no smut here, alas, but there is some kissing and sexy talk, and Rey in a bathtub.

The only bad thing about Plutt being dead in the forest is that there's one less set of hands to do the work at the garage.

And even that isn't  _so_ bad, Rey thinks as she looks over the financials after closing on Tuesday. It turns out Plutt didn't actually do much work himself, and was also absorbing a lot of the profits, taking them as salary instead of investing them back into the company or passing them along to his employees. The employees aren't much, just Rey and a pair of brothers, middle-aged men named Ralph and Dwayne Toolis, but they manage. The three of them are just enough to keep things going in the back, but Rey, in consultation with the brothers, had decided when she reported him missing that if Plutt didn't return after two months they would hire some additional help. Rey is satisfied that, even if they give themselves small raises, they can afford to hire someone to work part-time at the front to help with scheduling, and someone full-time at the back to help with the proper work of the garage. There are a number of old clunkers in the junkyard behind that could be fixed up and sold, so ideally they'll find someone with expertise working with older cars. Ralph and Dwayne assure her that they're happy to do the basics, things like oil changes and brake replacements, which is the bulk of the work, and they assented to Rey stepping up and acting as manager for the foreseeable future.

Before she leaves for the day, Rey adds a "Now Hiring" announcement to the garage's website, prints out a handful of flyers on the old inkjet printer in the office, and stops by the laundromat, the public library, and the grocery store to put them up. She'll call the newspaper in the morning about an ad. Do newspapers even do job ads anymore? She isn't sure; she's never had to apply for a job, or interview anyone for a job for that matter.

On her way home from the grocery store she puts her cell phone on handsfree and dials up Rose Tico. She is still not entirely used to having a cell phone; Plutt had never allowed it. Once she'd bought a cheap pay-as-you go one from the Shop Mart, and when he'd found it he'd made her break it herself while he screamed at her. That was his _modus operandi_ , to take the things that Rey loved the most and make her destroy them while he watched. She expected the aim was to break her completely, to make her stop loving things, but it never worked that way. There was a time when this disappointed her - if she stopped loving she could stop hurting - but at this point, driving in the still-new-to-her beater borrowed from the not-new-but-kinda-hers garage, dialing up her new best girlfriend using the new iPhone gifted to her by her new boyfriend (of two new boyfriends!), she's glad she never gave up. So very glad.

Rose picks up on the third ring. "Rey!!! How are you???!!!" Rose was always excited to hear from her, and Rey couldn't get enough. She laughs out loud at Rose's exuberance.

"I'm doing so well, Rose. I only have a few minutes before I get home so I'll make this quick. You mentioned that you're looking for work, and I need to hire someone to work 20 hours a week or so manning the phone and scheduling work for the garage. Would you be interested?"

Rose's response is just as enthusiastic as Rey had expected. "Would I! Oh Rey, I would love to. And twenty hours is just about right, any more than that and I'd be afraid it would distract from classes. Would it be okay for me to bring my books along and read when it's not busy?"

Rey smiles as she depresses the blinker to indicate her turn into the apartment building parking lot. "Of course, Rose! That's why I thought of you. If there's room in the back you might also be able to do some craft work when it's really slow, but that will depend on what's happening with R and D. I'm also hoping to hire another mechanic, someone to work on fixing up the old cars in the back. Some of them are classics that we could fix up and sell."

Rey can hear Rose moving on the other end of the line, a pot clanking, and it makes her stomach growl. "Okay sweetie, when can I start? I can bring my social security card and whatever else you need by the garage any time. I need to go in a minute to eat, I'm  _starving_."

"I'm starving too, and I just pulled into Ben's place, so let's go. You can come by tomorrow any time after 9am, and you can start on Saturday at nine, too. Sound good?"

There's a shuffling noise that Rey assumes is Rose jumping up and down, and it makes Rey smile. "Yes that sounds good! See you tomorrow!"

* * *

Later that evening Rey and Finn are snuggling on the couch. He's on his laptop researching what appears to be some new style of armor, and she's doing her best to read one of his old college engineering textbooks. Ben is in his usual spot in one of the puffy leather arm chairs, legs stretched to rest his bare feet on the coffee table, stack of paper for one of his cases resting in his lap. They're all dressed for bed, in tee shirts and jersey shorts and flannel pants. Rey doesn't think she's enjoying the textbook, exactly, but she's pleased to find that she understands a lot of it. She did very well in math and science in High School, and she was encouraged to take AP Physics by the head of the science teachers team, but Plutt had refused to pay for the exams and had also refused to let anyone else pay for them, so that hadn't gone anywhere. The idea of college was laughable until very recently, and she's still not sure if it's possible considering that she's now responsible for the running of the garage. Ben and Finn have made it clear that they will pay for classes at the local public university if she wants to go, which makes her feel strange, like a burden but also  _loved_. She has to remind herself that they don't think she's a burden. They love her and she loves them and things are  _really really good_ and Rose is going to work with her and soon she'll be hiring another mechanic and everything is good.

She allowed herself a minute to daydream, and she's curling back into Finn, rubbing her head on his shoulder and making him chuckle, when her phone starts to vibrate. It's on the coffee table, so very far away. Ben's foot is closer to it than she is. She glances at Ben to find him giving her a steady look over his reading glasses, and she tilts her chin down and grins at him while her phone continues vibrating. Finally he rolls his eyes and sighs dramatically, and pushes her phone with his toe so she can lean over and pick it up. It's an unrecognized number, but she feels just a little guilty about the shit she gave Ben, so she goes ahead and accepts the call.

"Hello, this is Rey Johnson."

There's a moment of silence, followed by a sound that might be a throat being cleared, and a deep voice, a man's voice. "Hello Ms. Johnson, my name is Han and I'm calling about the mechanic job I saw posted at the grocery store. Is it still available?"

Rey sits up straight and moves her butt to the edge of the seat to set the textbook on the table in front of her, knocking Finn off-balance in the process. He falls behind her, but takes the opportunity to pull his feet up, lie on his back and set the laptop on his stomach. He hums with delight and Rey ignores him.

"Hello, Han, thank you for calling. I'm sorry if I seem surprised, but I just put up those flyers this evening and I wasn't expecting a call so soon. I also apparently put my own number on them, instead of the number for the garage, so honestly I thought you were a spammer or a robot or something. Um." Even as she's talking she's thinking  _I really need to stop talking_. This guy is going to think she's a nut, or worse, a  _flighty woman_ , and this last thought is what finally gets her to pull herself together (even though she can feel Finn shaking with silent laughter behind her. Fuck him anyway.)

Rey gets her groove back before this Han person has time to respond. "Han, as noted on the flier, what I am really looking for is someone with experience working on classic cars. We have staff in place that can handle the regular work, the oil changes and the brake replacements, but we have a handful of classic cars ranging from the 1940s through the 1970s and my preference would be to fix them up rather than selling them as they are for scrap or to other people to fix up. Do you have experience that would be relevant?"

There's silence on the other end of the line and for a moment Rey is afraid that the man has hung up. But then she hears a soft  _huff_ \- maybe a laugh, maybe something else - and Han replies, "Well sw... um, Ms. Johnson, I've been around for long enough that I was working on classic cars before they were classics. I've been doing mechanical work of some kind or another for over forty years. I grew up working in salvage yards, so I got to know the insides of a variety of automobiles, not just cars but trucks and even airplanes. I didn't get to do much restoration until later. My ex wife's father had a couple that I helped him with, a '54 Bel Air and a '49 Ford Custom. I've also done more usual mechanical work, of course, including on big rigs if that's something you ever need."

As Han recounts his brief life story, Rey feels a touch of kinship with him. She knows about growing up in salvage, it was the first thing Plutt put her to when she started living with him; some of her earliest memories are reaching her small arms up and under and through the tightest spaces, using her dextrous fingers to pull and pry the tiniest parts. She hated it but she was good at it, and it kept her fed. Beyond her sympathy for Han, it sounds like he has the knowledge she needs this person to have, and many years of experience to boot. 

It barely registers that, as she's focused on the phone, Ben stands up and takes his papers with him into the kitchen.

"Han, this sounds great. When would you like to come to the garage? You can meet me and the other employees, and we can take a look at some of the cars."

Han makes that huffing noise again, which Rey is now pretty sure is some kind of laugh. She can almost imagine him, this man she has yet to meet, with a crooked smile and his head tipping back with every little laugh. "I'm not doing anything these days, I could come tomorrow morning if that works for you."

Rey smiles, satisfied that he can make it so soon. "That sounds great, Han. We open at 9am, so how about you come at ten to give me time to get things ready for our interview? I look forward to meeting you."

He says goodbye and she disconnects the call, drops her phone onto the sofa and lets out a "Whoooo! Oh Finn, this guy sounds  _exactly_ like what we need. He has decades of experience, so he's worked with so many different kinds of cars, including ones that are as old as some of them at the garage. And he's respectful, he called me _Miz Johnson_ , I think he might be the one!"

As she chats, Finn moves the laptop to the empty space on the sofa above his head, and when she finishes he pulls her to him, maneuvering her until she's straddling his hips. She's about to ask him what's up when he uses his right hand to pull her down for a kiss, while at the same time he uses his left hand to push into her lower back as he rocks his hips. His aim isn't great, she's lying too flat for him to catch her at her core, but even at her stomach she can tell his cock is rock hard. She pulls her mouth away from where he is positively  _devouring_ her.

"Woah, Finn. I'm not complaining but, what brings this on?"

He's brought his right hand down and together his hands have found her hips, and they've tilted her so his next stroke against her is  _just right_ , the thin fabric of his flannel and her cotton bottoms leaving nothing to her imagination. She arches her back and groans, grinding down against him.

Not complaining  _at all_.

Finn bites his lip as he gazes up at her. "Turns out I really like hearing you all professional on the phone. You should thank this Han guy when you see him tomorrow."

As she continues to rub against him the warmth between Rey's legs is already moving both up her abdomen and down her thighs. However, she has enough left in her to continue the parlay for a moment. "Why should I thank him, Finn?"

In less than a second his hands are in her hair, and he's pulling her down so he can whisper in her ear: "Because I'm about to take you into Ben's bedroom and  _fucking wreck you_ , and I think you're gonna like it, and it's all because of his well-timed phone call."

Rey shudders and pulls away. "Holy shit, Finn, how do you do that?" He just laughs and helps her stand up. Then he gives her a sweet kiss on her lips, because of course he does. She looks into his eyes, his sparkling, beautiful eyes, and all she can get out is, "Ben?"

Finn strokes her cheek with a thumb and pretends to consider. Then he nods. "Sure, I'll wreck Ben too, if he's up for it. Why don't you check with him while I go get the bed ready?"

Finn heads to the bedroom and Rey skips into the kitchen, where Ben has made himself a workspace at the end of the island. He's perched on one of the stools, with his papers spread out before him, and a beer bottle wet with condensation set off to one side. She comes up behind him, wraps her hands around him and slips them under the front of his teeshirt to press her palms against his stomach. "Hey, Love, me and Finn are going to have sex to celebrate my anticipated new hire, would you like to come get wrecked with us?"

Rey is startled when he pushes her hands away roughly and says, "Not tonight, I need to finish up this case." He sounds irritated, but Rey isn't sure why. This is a regular occurrence in their household, two of them deciding to have sex and inviting the other one to join, and although the overture isn't always accepted it has never before been met with anything approaching anger. 

Ben seems to sense her discomfort immediately and turns to face her, putting his arms around her waist and kissing her cheek and softening his tone. "Sorry, sweetheart, this case is just the absolute worst, and as much as I would love to have sex right now I really can't. You and Finn go have fun, okay? I'll be there in a while." 

He still looks a bit weird to Rey, and she can't put her finger on why. But she's really looking forward to  _getting wrecked_ so she pushes her concern aside, gives him a peck on his lips, tells him she loves him, and skips to the bedroom, and to Finn.

* * *

Han arrives at 10am sharp. Rey had spent the hour since opening getting one of the newer cars pushed up to a lift, with some help from Ralph, and had laid out all the tools she thinks they'll need. She doesn't expect him to actually get it running during the interview, but she knows that from watching him work on it, she'll be able to tell if he knows his stuff.

One glance and she's certain it's Han, although she doesn't know why she would know that.  _He's the only person you're expecting_ , her brain suggests helpfully. He looks older than she thought he would, even though he told her he has forty years' experience. He's tall, taller than Finn but not quite as tall as Ben, with gray hair tilting to white, and brown eyes that manage to look both soulful and mischievous. He's wearing spiffy new dark blue workpants and a matching work shirt; he dressed to impress. She likes him immediately.

Holding out her hand she introduces herself: "Rey Johnson."

He takes her hand firmly. "It's good to meet you Ms. Johnson, I'm Han Solo." His mouth tips into a jovial half-smile.

Rey freezes, holding his hand just a bit too long. If he thinks it's weird he doesn't let on, and she finally lets him go. She wants to ask him about his name.  _Solo_. She'd never heard of that name before she'd met Ben. When she'd finally been able to ask him about it - during the long conversation where they finally all sat down and talked about their families, laughing and crying and eating fried chicken and cornbread until they couldn't move - he'd told her that, according to family lore, it was a name made up when the first immigrant on his dad's side came over from Hungary in the 1880s. The immigration officer couldn't understand his ancestor's accent, he was traveling by himself, so he was literally Solo. _Solo_. They could be the only two people in the world with that name. But she can't ask. Instead she says, "Please, call me Rey." 

She shows him through into the garage proper. It's a big space, with lifts for four cars, and a rolling door that faces the street, currently open to let in the morning sunlight and the pleasant breeze. There are worktables set up on the other three sides, and tools line the walls. There's a second, smaller rolling door in the back, which leads to the small junk yard beyond. The car they'll be working with this morning, a 1975 Ford Falcon, is on the lift closest to the junkyard door, but is still at ground level. She figures they'll start by looking under the hood, then bring the car up to look at the undercarriage. 

As they make their way back to the Falcon Han greets Ralph and Dwayne with a nod, and he glances around. He looks pleased. "Place cleans up pretty good." he says, almost as though to himself. 

Rey turns around to face him. "Excuse me?" 

He looks at her, as though noticing her for the first time, and after a moment he looks a little ashamed. "Well, I should tell you, I was surprised last night too, when you answered the phone. Me and Plutt, we go way back, twenty, thirty years back. I haven't seen him in probably ten years, though. The ad said Plutt's garage, so I was expecting him to answer, was expecting to ask for a favor from an old acquaintance." Han frowns at this, then his expression clears and he looks back at her thoughtfully. "Anyway, I wasn't expecting a young woman - no offense to you, Ms. - sorry, Rey, you clearly know your stuff." Rey is standing in a morning sunbeam coming through the large rolling door open at the front of the room, and as Han looks down into her face his expression softens with recognition. "But you were here too, weren't you? Now that I see you clearly, you're about the right age. You were the little with the three buns, right?"

Rey nods, slowly, and she wants to cry. She wants to go into the office and scream, she wants to text Finn to have him come and get her and take her to bed and fuck her like he did last night, until she can't breathe, until she can't  _think_ , and then she wants to sleep for a week. But she can't, because she is a professional, she has a job to do and despite how very oddly this is going she likes Han and she wants to hire him. Even though she's pretty sure he's Ben's estranged father. Maybe because he is. She wants him to be.

So instead of crying she nods, and she leads Han the rest of the way to the waiting car. "That was me, yes. He was my foster father, and I stayed on working for him after I aged out of the system. You won't be seeing him, though, he left town about two months ago and hasn't been in touch since. We put in a missing person's report after he was gone three weeks, but there's no news." She looks up at him. "That's why we're hiring, actually, we need more hands since he's gone. I'm also hiring someone to work part time at the front, to help with scheduling and such. She might be around while you're here, so you could meet her."

Rey's pretty sure she's talking too much, but Han doesn't look like he cares. She turns to the car and is ready with her spiel, but before she can start Han starts yelling. "It's the Falcon! This is the goddamned Falcon! I haven't seen this car in twenty years or more! How the hell did Plutt get this car? Do you know? I thought Ducain had it!" And he turns to her, fire in his eyes, and he looks so much like Ben in this moment she wants to kiss him.

She hadn't thought the day could get any weirder, and then it did.

"Uhhh, my understanding is that he got it from the Irving Boys, who got it from Ducain. But I don't understand. You know this car?"

Han throws his head back and laughs, an honest and joyful sound that makes her heart clench. He steps around the car, touching the paint, kicking the tires as he passes them. She watches him as he goes, taking note of the angle of his hips and the way he holds his shoulders, the expressions that flit across his face, rendering his inner self transparent for anyone bothering to pay attention. This man is definitely Ben's father.

He faces her and gestures to the car with both hands. "This was my car! I won it in a game of poker in 1978; my friend Lando never did forgive me for that. I drove this car everywhere, used to race it on the back roads between Kessell and Floyd. Called it the Millennium Falcon because it was one in a million, only found out later that 'millennium' means thousand. What a dumbass." His eyes are glassy, he looks like he's reliving every memory of this car at once and it's almost too much to take. He pauses to wipe away a tear from the corner of his eye and looks right at Rey. "Sure never thought I'd see this car again."

Rey wonders if he'd react this way if he saw Ben. She isn't angry at him, though. He left her boyfriend when he was just a kid, left him and only came for visits when it suited him. But all she feels is yearning and regret. 

He continues around the car, pushes down on the back and front bumpers, opens and closes all the doors, with an expression of awe on his face all the while. Finally he pops the hood and pokes around, Rey watching over his shoulder as he prods at the radiator, the engine, the master cylinder, the transmission. Finally he takes the key from her, sets behind the wheel, adjusts the seat ("Plutt sure was a fat fuck, wasn't he.") and attempts to start the car. To the surprise of neither of them, nothing happens.

As Han is getting out of the car to take another look under the hood, Rey hears a familiar voice calling from the door at the front. "Hi Rey! I'm here to do the paperwork!" It's Rose, and Rey rushes across the room to embrace her. Rey can feel her friend's surprise and delight. "Sweetie, what a great hug." She's smiling, until she gets a close look at Rey's face, and her smile turns to concern. "Are you okay honey? Come here with me and tell me what's up."

They step into the front area and Rey reaches into the drawer to pull out the I9 and W4 forms that Rose will have to complete for the hiring process. She indicates for Rose to sit in the chair behind the desk and hands her a pen, then closes the door between the front area and the garage, just in case.

She decides it's better to just get it out there. And Rose is her best girlfriend, if she can tell anyone she can tell her. She pulls a chair over from the waiting area and sits facing Rose, leaning in for a whisper. "There's so much you don't know, Rose, but I think I'm about to hire Ben's dad as my new mechanic. He's looking at a car in there right now."

Rose's eyes get huge and she tries to twist around to look through the window into the garage, but Rey grabs her and holds her still. "Ssshhhhhh!!! He doesn't know I know Ben! Ben doesn't know he's here either!"

Only, she realizes, he does. She thinks about how weird Ben got last night after the phone call - his disappearance into the kitchen as she spoke with Han on the phone, his rebuff of their offers of sex to "celebrate the new hire", which seems gross in hindsight. He at least had an inkling that she _could_ have been talking to his dad. How many mechanics named 'Han' could there be?

She grabs her friend's arm for support. "Shit, Rose. Ben knows. Han called me last night and Ben was there, and he heard me say his name and he must have known and he didn't say _anything_." She'd started out her sentence feeling surprised, moved right past disappointment to pure anger. She is trying very hard not to raise her voice. "He didn't tell me. He knew I was probably talking to his dad and he didn't  _tell me Rose_." She's finally crying, and Rose puts down the pen and pulls her in, wrapping her arms around Rey's shoulders.

"From the little bit I know about Ben he's really guarded with his emotions. Is that fair?" Rose's hand feels so nice, rubbing across Rey's back. 

Rey sniffles and wipes her eyes on Rose's shoulder, making her friend sigh. "Yeah, about some things. About his family definitely." She wishes she had a box of tissues for out here and makes a mental note to get some the next time she's at the store. 

Rose is quiet for a moment, and Rey has some time to pull herself together. Once she's stopped sniffling, her friend gives her a squeeze and sits back to look her in the eye. "Rey. Why don't you just tell him, hon? Send him a text right now."

Why not? Because she's afraid. She's afraid of pushing Ben away, but she's also afraid of losing Han, and this realization makes her pause. She doesn't  _have_ Han. He's nobody to her. He left the man she loves when he was a child. She should hate him. What is wrong with her?

Rose goes back to her paperwork and Rey pulls her phone out of her back pocket, switches from their group chat to her private chat with Ben, and sends a cryptic text. He'll understand or he won't, but either way:

Why didn't u tell me? Really mad at u rn.  
  


Thirty seconds later he replies:

I'm so sorry sweetheart. Didn't know what to say.   
  
Been thinking about you all morning  
  
how is he?  
  


Rey relaxes a bit. At least he's not angry back at her, and he didn't deflect. And he apologized.

He's good? Old. Funny. V. charming.  
  


She considers mentioning the Falcon, but decides not to. Given the timing, it's probably the same car that Han used to drive away that last time. Very likely Ben has terrible memories of that car. 

Yup that sounds like my dad  
  
You going to hire him?  
  
Don't know yet. he's working on a car now  
  
wld u b mad if I did?  
  


She has to wait over a minute for his reply. By now Rose has finished her forms and is standing at the door to the garage, watching Han work in the belly of the Falcon through the small, grimy pains of glass that form a grid at the top of the door.

Hire who you want. it's your garage  
  
He'll just disappoint you, though  
  
but  
  
I won't be mad. would be weird, I haven't seen him in so long.  
  
can I tell him about u? feels dishonest not 2  
  


She waits so long for his reply she's afraid he's thrown his phone, trashed it, and he's running away to live in a mountain in Montana or something. But her phone chimes in reply at the same moment that Rose turns around and says to her, "Rey, that guy is heading this way!"

Yeah okay. Tell him i say hi  
  


* * *

Han's finished under the hood, and he's made a list of things that'll need fixing before the old thing can run again, but he's satisfied that it's doable. He wipes his hands on a rag from one of the work counters and heads for the front of the garage, where Rey went to greet that other woman maybe ten minutes ago. He looks around as he ambles, and again he's struck by how different the place looks than it did the last time he was here. Cleaner, for one. More organized. There are art posters tacked up on some of the areas of the wall that used to be blank and he'd noticed when he came in that the girlie calendar at the front had been replaced by one of the "cat of the day" variety. He figures this is all the influence of one Rey Johnson, the surprisingly young, surprisingly competent woman who is running things now. He remembers Plutt and shivers, then remembers seeing little Rey here, running around with dirt on her face and her three little buns, and shivers again.

The door opens as he reaches it, and he's greeted by this other woman: short, friendly, with pink cheeks and Asian features. "Hi, you must be Han! I'm Rose Tico, it's so good to meet you, sir." She shakes his hand firmly and gestures for him to come inside.

Rey is sitting at a chair adjacent to the desk, as though she's been having a tête-à-tête with her friend. There's paperwork on the desk, but Rey is just looking up at him from her phone. Her eyes are puffy, she's been crying, but she smiles warmly at him and stands up.

"Sorry about that Han, Rose and I were just taking care of her paperwork. She'll be working up front about 20 hours a week, answering the phone and scheduling work. We haven't set a schedule for her yet, but once we do it'll be posted here, along with the others." She points to a space on the wall behind the desk, where there are separate charts showing the week's calendar for Rey, Ralph, and Dwayne, including times when they're available for walk-ins. He sees her slip the phone back into her pocket. "How's the car?"

He looks back over his shoulder, through the door, to the Falcon with its hood still propped up. "She's seen better days, but I'm confident that we can get her running, even make her beautiful again." He pulls a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and hands it to Rey. "Here's a list of what I think needs to be done. This is just initial, I haven't looked at the undercarriage yet. But this is a start."

Rey takes the list and glances at it. She raises her eyebrows and smiles up at Han. "This is very thorough for a 15-minute examination," she says, "I'm impressed." She sounds sincere and Han relaxes. He hadn't even realized he was tense. She takes another look at the list and bites her lower lip as though she's considering something, then nods to herself and glances back up at him, her eyes guarded. "Are you still interested in the job?"

Han grins down at her. He is positively delighted. But he tones down his excitement, just a bit. "Yes, I am interested. If only to get my hands on the Falcon again." She barks out a laugh and pushes past him to go back into the garage. 

"Okay then! Come with me to the office." She seems to remember her friend then, and turns back to say quietly, "Rose, do you have to leave? Can you stay a few minutes?"

Rose smiles warmly and reaches out a hand, which Rey grasps and squeezes. "I'll be here when you come out, honey."

The women share a weighted look that Han doesn't understand and then Rey is turning around and leading him back to the office.

The office is the only private space in the garage, aside from the bathroom, and it has changed the most. It's been painted recently, for one thing, soft white on three walls and a dark green accent on the wall with the window, slate on the floor. The furniture is all new. It's not fancy, probably Ikea or something like that, but natural and comfortable. Across from the desk there's a couple of wooden chairs, the only old furniture in the room, and against the wall is a dark blue loveseat hosting a soft floral pattern. It even smells good in here, like vanilla and coffee, the latter due to the presence of a Kuerig machine in one corner. Rey invites Han to sit on the loveseat and takes a few minutes to make coffee for them in silence, then hands him a warm ceramic mug featuring a line drawing of a cat, along with a single serve sugar and half and half. "There's more if you need it."

He takes it all and relaxes back into the seat, which is deceptively comfortable. "I drink it black, but thank you." Rey takes one of the wooden chairs and angles it around so she's facing him on the loveseat. She takes her time adding creamer and sugar to her coffee, balancing the mug on her knee and ripping the packets with her teeth, then stirring it with a little wooden stick.

Han takes this time to get a better look at her. She still looks so much like she did when she was a kid, although her cheekbones are sharper and her eyes are less rounded. They're still a lovely hazel, brown and green and gold, and her hair looks longer, now pulled back in one large bun instead of the three little ones. She's pretty, he thinks. She looks like someone's kid sister, or first girlfriend. She looks like someone he might have thought about kissing a lifetime ago. This thought makes him feel dirty and he brings himself back to the present, looking around the room again to center himself. He notices a collection of framed photos on the bookshelf behind the desk, amongst the knick-knacks and stacks of maintenance manuals, but Rey clears her throat, bringing his attention back to her, before he can focus on any one of them.

Rey takes a long sip of her drink and sighs. "So Han, if you haven't guessed, I would like to hire you today. But before I do there's something you need to know. I want to be absolutely honest with you, and after I tell you what I'm going to tell you, you are free to walk away and never come back, and I promise I won't hold it against you. Okay?"

As Rey's talking Han can see her hands are shaking, and she is looking just over his shoulder, refusing eye contact, until the very end. She's  _nervous_ , and he has no idea what she has to be so nervous about. It's not as though she's murdered anyone. But he's curious, so he says, "Okay. What is it?"

She just stares at him. She opens her mouth, then closes it again. After a moment she tries again, then she seems to get frustrated with herself. She huffs and stands up, placing her mug on the desk behind her and grumbling, "This is  _so stupid._ " She grabs one of the framed photos from the shelf and carries it around, placing it on his knees where he picks it up with his hand not holding the coffee.

It takes a few seconds for Han to make sense of the photo. It's a selfie, three faces filling the rectangle of the frame. He sees Rey on one side, her hair loose, a blue halter top drawn up across her collarbone, and on the other side a dark-skinned Black man, hair short on the sides with twists on the top, wearing a chainmail shirt, of all things, a narrow strip of leather edging the neckline. They're both laughing, lips curled up and eyes squinting slightly. It's hard to tell from the lighting but maybe the sun is in front of them. They appear to be outside, there are leaves behind them, as though they're standing under a tree together. 

The man in the middle of the trio is also laughing, which is why it take Han a moment to understand that he knows him. He hasn't seen him in years - Ten years? How does time pass so quickly? - his dark hair is thick and longer than he's ever seen it and covers his ears, all but the tips which are just peeking through, and although his features are still large for his face, he's grown into them in a way that is attractive rather than offputting. But the biggest change is his smile. Han's not sure he's ever seen him smile like this before, not since he was very small. He looks like he doesn't have a care in the world, he looks happy, he looks  _in love_.

Rey's quiet voice interrupts his contemplation of the man's face. "You know him, don't you Han."

Han swallows thickly and wipes a tear from the corner of his eye before it can make its way down his cheek. "Of course I do. That's my boy, my son. Ben." He looks up at her, confused. "How do you know Ben? I thought he was still in Boston."

Rey laughs at this, throws her head back and whoops, and the tension leaves the room along with it. "Oh Han. No, he moved here from Boston three years ago. I live with him, we have an apartment over in New Castle. He's my boyfriend. The other man, Finn, is our boyfriend too."

He takes another look at the photo then back at Rey. If she's afraid he's going to say anything negative about the fact that she's in a threesome with his estranged son she doesn't show it, and a piece of him - a not very small piece - is impressed. He manages a smile. "A boyfriend and a girlfriend, huh. That brings back some good memories."

Rey laughs at this too, and Han decides that Rey was born to laugh and that he'll make her laugh as much as he can. He has so much regret, he's made so many terrible decisions in his life, leaving his wife and son being among the worst, but for the first time in years he feels like he's being given a chance. Maybe not redemption, but something close.

* * *

Rey slips in the front door of the apartment just after six. As she takes off her boots she can hear the usual din of pretentious metal coming from the kitchen, but the house is otherwise quiet. She'd chatted with Han for another 20 minutes or so, until Rose texted her to make sure everything was alright. Then Rose left, and Han filled out his hiring paperwork, promising to come back again on Saturday morning. Rey'd spent the rest of the day with the Falcon following up on Han's notes and compiling a list of equipment they'd need to do the job. So now she's exhausted and covered with grease and grime, and she just wants to take a long shower, eat a good meal, and go to sleep.

She pads through Ben's bedroom and into the bathroom and decides at the last minute on a bath, instead of a shower. She turns on the taps, nice and hot, and drops in a dollop of coconut oil and a few drops of lavender essential oil, which are supposed to make you feel calm and seem to actually work. She undresses and pees, washes her face at the sink, takes down her hair and gives it a good brushing, then lowers herself into the tub when it's just about full. She's playing with her pouf and contemplating turning on the jets when there's a light knock on the door and Ben steps in, feet bare but still dressed in his work clothes, closing the door gently behind him before Rey can respond.

She's ready to admonish him, until she looks up into his face. He's been crying, clearly, his eyes are puffy and red and there are tear tracks down his cheeks. His cheeks themselves are red from rubbing, and as she watches him he uses the flat of his hand to wipe another tear that's just come out of his eye.

"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry," he starts, but at the same time Rey stands up and almost loses her balance, slipping on the oil making the bottom of the tub slick. Ben is quick, though, and in one step he's grabbed her and is holding her against his body, her knees coming to a rest on the edge of the tub. They stand like that, holding each other sloppily, until Rey gets too chilly and asks to get back in the water.

Ben helps her sit down carefully, then he rolls up his shirtsleeves, takes her pouf, squeezes some body wash on it, and starts washing her back. As he does this she gets up on her knees and turns to face him, putting her arms around his torso and laying her head on his shoulder. 

"I'm so sorry, Ben," she whispers into his collarbone. "I've been very selfish today. I know my decisions are hurting you." She can feel him shaking his head, and he huffs.

"I'm sorry I was so selfish yesterday. I should have said something to you after he called but I just... I don't even know how I was feeling. And I didn't want to talk about it."

Rey smiles into his neck and places a little kiss on the soft skin just under his ear. "It's okay, love. I was just surprised and I was only really angry at you for like, two minutes max. And you should be angry at me, you _should_. I like Han, I like him a lot."

Ben hums at this and switches the pouf to his other hand, then reaches a bit lower down her back, continuing the slow revolutions. It feels good, and she pushes her ass back in encouragement, making him groan. "I'm just trying to get you clean, sweetheart, but for the second time in as many days, I'm thinking about sex and thinking about my dad, and let me tell you this is not a good combination."

Sitting up straighter and sending a message to her nether regions to calm down, Rey lifts her head and looks into Ben's face. He appears more calm, as though being in her physical presence is itself soothing for him. His eyes are deep and so beautiful, and as she considers him he presses a kiss to the cheekbone below her right eye. "So I guess we're talking about your dad," she teases, pulling away completely and setting herself back in the warm water.

In lieu of answer he tosses the pouf in the water and groans as he sits up on his haunches, then falls back onto his butt and sets his chin on the edge of the tub. From where she's sitting he looks like a disembodied head, and the vision makes Rey giggle. She knows Ben isn't happy, and she knows that she's happy for the same reason he's sad, and again she's feeling terrible and selfish. But then he makes a funny face at her, and she thinks, maybe this will be okay.

She fills Ben in on her morning, on the many revelations: of Han's last name, his acquaintance with Plutt and with a much younger Rey, and on informing Han of her relationship with his son. She also tells him about the Falcon, and Ben puts his hands over his face and groans. 

"I can't believe that fucking car was out behind your garage this whole time. If I'd have known I'd have lit it up and chucked it into the quarry with the Honda." Rey pushes her wet fingers into the hair at his brow and scritches delicately, and he uncovers his face and gazes into the water.

"I told him you said 'hi'. He says hi back, and that he'd like to see you sometime."

Ben makes a sour face. "I bet he would." 

She's insistent. "No, really Ben. He thought you were still in Boston, he didn't know you'd moved here after law school. He wasn't surprised to hear you were working for Snoke, though."

He still isn't looking at her face, but she thinks rather than zoning out he's looking at her body through the water. "That wouldn't surprise him, no," he says, almost dreamily. 

Ben had finally told her and Finn about Snoke, how he'd been Ben's one supporter through the breakdown of his family, how he'd ensured that Ben was accepted into the best college despite having a criminal record, and how he'd used that as leverage to keep Ben under his thumb through law school, even brought him back to work in his small-town law firm in the middle of nowhere. How Ben didn't think he could ever escape until he snapped. It was Finn who, after an hour of arguing, finally convinced him that at least part of the breakdown of his family was due to Snoke's influence. Apparently Ben is still absorbing this.

Rey moves her hand to scritch behind his ear and continues. "I asked him about the shipping company. Apparently he sold it about six years ago and used the money for some investments that didn't pan out."

Ben laughs bitterly at this. "That doesn't surprise me at all. Lost it all probably, gambling or some shit. Did he say what he's doing now?"

"He's living with your Uncle Chewie and looking for work at local garages, apparently."

Ben had told them about Chewie during their big family conversation. 

Rey had been amused. "Your dad's brother is called 'Chewie'? What kind of a name is that?"

Ben had smiled. "Not his brother, his oldest friend. They grew up together on the mean streets, that's what they'd say anyway." He'd looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure what Chewie is short for. Maybe Charles? Charles Bacca?"

Back in the present, Ben smiles again at the mention of his uncle. "Did I tell you guys about the parades the other night?" Rey shakes her head no. He continues, "So Chewie was a big hairy dude, taller than me probably, and when I was little we'd go to the fireworks or parades or whatever and he'd put me up on his shoulders so I could see. I always had the best view." He sighs and dips his finger into the water. "I would love to see Chewie again."

Rey says quietly, "I've never seen fireworks, or a parade." Ben looks up in surprise. She grimaces. "He wouldn't let me. He would lock me in my room and go without me." Ben puts his thumb on her chin and asks, "Did you ever think about sneaking out?" 

Her heart stutters at the mere thought of going up against Plutt as a teenager. "No."

If she could bottle the expression on Ben's face right now and parcel it out by drops over the rest of her life, she would do it. He looks soft and angry and sad and protective, all at once, and she loves him for it. She sits forward and presses her lips against his, and he leans in to her, grabs her head with both of his enormous hands and before she knows what's happening he's opening her mouth and kissing her breathless. She wraps her arms around his neck, and it takes all of her strength to not climb straight out of the tub and into his lap and take him on the cold tile floor. Instead she whines and nibbles his lips, and finally pulls away with a moan.

"Ben, if thinking about your dad and sex is weird, I can guarantee that thinking about him and sex is weirder." Ben has the decency to look as though he regrets it, just a little bit. He boops her nose with his; maybe that's an apology.

Rey stirs the water with her knee, and it releases a bit of the sweet, spicy scent of the lavender oil. "I was thinking I might offer the house to your dad. Like, for him to live in. So he could move out of Chewie's. He made it sound like he was overstaying his welcome." She's not looking at Ben as she talks, but she can hear him hum. She continues, "I'm never going to go back in there. I know I've said that I want to tear it down, but if he was in there he could maybe clear it out, fix it up? Keep it maintained? I could sell it, get a little money out of it, or just rent it. In the meantime he gets a place to stay for free." She chances a glance at him and he's watching her knee move, and looking thoughtful. Not angry or upset, just like he's thinking. Finally he moves his eyes to hers, but he still doesn't say anything. She figures this is a good sign.

They're sitting there, embracing over the edge of the tub, running hands through each other's hair and admiring each other's eyes when Finn knocks on the door and comes in, too. 

"Hey guys, I don't want to interrupt but dinner's on the table." He takes a look at them, and crouches where he stands. "Are you guys okay? Is there something I can do to help?"

Rey and Ben exchange an amused glance. He takes her hands and helps her out of the bath, which has already cooled off significantly. Finn snags a towel from the shelf and hands it to Rey, and she dries herself off and wraps it around herself, pausing to kiss Ben's cheek, then Finn's, as she walks into the bedroom to find some pajamas.

Ben takes Finn's hand, entwines his fingers, and pulls him out of the bathroom and towards their waiting meal. "It's probably hard to believe, but Rey hired my dad today to work for her at the garage. We'll tell you all about it over dinner." 

Finn squeezes Ben's hand and rubs the tip of his nose against his shoulder. "I don't find that hard to believe at all. I think it's probably a sign."

Ben sighs, but Finn has been right about this before. Maybe it is a sign, a sign of good things to come.

**Author's Note:**

> After giving Finn and Ben their bonding in the last story, I wanted to give Rey and Ben theirs here. I'm also thrilled to be able to finally include more of Rose as Rey's best girlfriend (yay!), and Han and R2D2 (You caught them, right? Maybe they'll get more to say in the future).
> 
> In case it's not clear, Rey won't say Plutt's name if she can help it, so if there are places where she's talking and referring to an uncertain "him" it's probably Plutt.
> 
> As a fat person I usually hate insults about people's weight, but Han calling Plutt a "fat fuck" seemed reasonable so I've included it, but I am sorry if it bothers anyone.
> 
> My lovely friend Jessa gifted me the yearning and sexy Chapter Seven of her work "Once Upon a Smuggler's Moon". The chapter title is [Some Kind of Boyfriend](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15788496/chapters/36747156), and the relevance to our murder family is clear if you read [The Knights of the Resistance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15683445/chapters/36439161). I love it and I encourage you to read it (that chapter, and the entire thing) if you love a sexy reylo. The entire thing is basically foreplay. It's glorious.
> 
> I'm leofgyth on Tumblr, come over and say hello!


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